National confab: Why I wrote minority report – ASEMOTA

AS controversies over the preparation and submission of a minority report on modalities for the proposed national conference to President Goodluck Jonathan persist, the author of the report, Mr. Solomon Asemota, SAN, has said why he wrote the report.

In a telephone chat , Asemota, who is a member of The Patriots as well as the Senator Femi Okurounmu-led 13-man Presidential Advisory Committee on National Dialogue/Conference, said he wrote the report in the interest of the country, the success of the proposed conference and to ensure that the exercise was not ‘tele-guided’ like many numerous past attempts.
He spoke as another member of Okurounmu committee, Mr. Tony Uranta, flayed the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Mr. Okey Wali, SAN, and Mr. Asemota over claims that the President refused to receive Asemota’s minority report.
Meanwhile, Igbo leaders under the banner of the Igbo Leaders of Thought led by Professor Ben Nwabueze, SAN, has listed five points that should be incorporated into the conference modalities to make the exercise fruitful.
Shedding more light on the controversial minority report that he wrote, Asemota said: “I wrote the minority report. I wanted to submit it through the committee but they said it was unacceptable to them because they have only one chairman of the committee and will only accept one report from the chairman. So, I sent the report to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, and the President through DHL.”
Asked why he differed with some of the recommendations of the committee, he said: “We must get the conference right. I was a member of the Constituent Assembly in 1989 and the military tele-guided the process. Nothing came out of the draft constitution that we prepared. Nobody should tele-guide me after my years of experience. Even the people, who are to tele-guide me are people who were entering the university when had already become SAN.”
Uranta flays Wali, Asemota
Speaking on the issue, Uranta said: “One is appalled at the NBA President, Okey Wali’s use of words in the body’s statement regarding the imminent National Conference, because it is a lie that President Jonathan refused to receive a much-touted phantom minority report when the Presidential Advisory Committee on the National Dialogue submitted its report. No other report, than the committee’s report, was offered to the President. Wali is a lawyer. Can he educate us on how you can refuse/reject something you were never offered.”
Faulting Mr. Asemota’s position, Uranta said “it is even more disappointing that a respected lawyer of Mr. Asemota’s standing can go about bandying falsehoods to the effect that he was denied the opportunity to freely air his views pertaining to issues of representation and legal framework for the National Conference. He voted along with every other member on every issue and he was in fact Chairman, PACND Sub-Committee on legal framework.”
Uranta added that “The Patriots do not hold a monopoly of knowledge or wisdom, and their positions cannot take precedence over the desires of a large majority of Nigerians who are committed to this National Conference holding successfully.”
Igbo leaders issue five demands
Also speaking, Igbo leaders of Thought, who reacted to the diatribe between Okurounmu and Nwabueze, insisted that the committee’s report fell short of the expectations of Nigerians who desire a genuine national conference of ethnic nationalities.
In a statement by their Deputy Secretary, Evangelist Elliot Uko, they said the issues that are uppermost in the minds of Nigerians are: No ethnic nationality should be left out of the National Conference; the National Assembly should not have a final say on the decisions of the National Conference; the National Assembly should pass an enabling law to legalise the National Conference as inherent powers of the president has been successfully challenged in several courts in the past; Nigerians desire a fresh constitution not an amendment of the Abacha Constitution; and the decision of the National Conference must be affirmed at a people’s referendum.